Locks & Bolts
by Warlord101
Summary: A Resident Evil fan-fic I did a little while ago. Set during Resident Evil 2, it is centered on the survival of one of the many civillians caught in the Racoon City at the worst of times.
1. Room 208

Locks and Bolts  
  
Chapter 1-Room 208  
  
The echoing halls of the apartment were no longer what they had been. Previously, they'd been damp, ugly walls leading between the elevator and stairs and his room. Now, they were dimly lit and creepy. The fizzling light bulb made the rough cut cardboard boxes give horrid images upon the walls. Flecked green paint and cheap plaster were once all that decorated the walls. Now, the shadows were cast upon them and, even worse, blood.  
  
'Come on, man! Just make it down the hall. You can do it, Ken.'  
  
Kenneth edged slowly down the corridor, the axe firmly gripped in his hands. He gritted his teeth tightly as he approached the door to his room. He let one hand drift from his axe to his pocket to fetch his keys. His hand shaking heavily, he eventually managed to slip the key into the lock and twist the handle. He stepped into the room, took back the keys and closed the door behind him. He quickly locked it once more and pocketed the keys. Nothing new to the room. It was how he left it.  
  
A complete dump. An empty pizza box, some beer cans, and a small collection of various bits of other junk.  
  
'If I'd known they were coming, I'd have cleaned up! Don't blame yourself now. Wait! I gotta' block the door!'  
  
Kenneth quickly dropped the fire axe, running for the cupboard in the lounge. He always had some of his hardware goods in there, even though he'd given up making the kitchen shelves when his wife went missing. The cupboard door swung open easily as Ken tore it open for tools. There were only a few boxes of nails and a screwdriver. Damn. He grabbed the coffee table as well, slinging off the half-eaten pizza. He dragged the table against the door and looked around for something to hit the nails in with.  
  
'The fire axe!'  
  
Ken grabbed the axe and began to bang the nails in with the blunt end.  
  
'Please God! Don't let them find me yet!'  
  
Half an Hour later...  
  
The make-shift barricade would hold for now. Kenneth's interest had been diverted anyway. He'd finished working on defence, so moved to offence. He had taken his handgun from its place in the cabinet and given it a full load. That was because it was all he had for it-1 Clip. At least it had range compared to the axe. The only way the fire axe would become a projectile weapon would be if he hurled it and there wasn't too many chances of him being able to do that. He tried the weight of the gun in his hands. It had been along time since he'd held it, let alone used it. Not as heavy as he remembered it. Hopefully, he could still fire the thing without it jamming up on him.  
  
He cast his attention to a different matter-the outside world. He hadn't thought much about what was going on outside the building much, recently. He'd been thinking about how to safely get from the basement to the second floor without conflict. Or the elevator. When the power went off the elevator had stopped, open, on the ground floor, where those...things were. Naturally, they got in and devoured the elevator's passengers. The power came back and got it stuck between the 5th and 6th floor when it sparked off again, and those monstrosities were still in it. Ken didn't want to chance that. He'd taken the stairs up from the boiler room and it actually seemed to work. That is to say, he didn't bump into one of the creatures. The power did return later though, but by that time, the elevator was well and truly damned. Anyone else who had survived would be sensible enough not to use that clunky piece of crap, whether those creatures had cleared off or not.  
  
'Oh well, I'm here now. Might as well try and get comfortable, could be here a while.'  
  
Kenneth sighed dryly before walking over to the kitchen. He swung open the fridge to see what was lurking there today.  
  
A bit of pizza, a couple of stale sandwiches, a block of cheese and a slice of apple pie. That was all that was worth eating. The only other things in there were some assorted beers, a few bottles of milk and some old fruit that smelled as rotten as the things outside. Ken would probably get himself a beer, settle down in a chair and hopefully blank out in front of the TV. Not much difference between what was going on now and life last year. Except he'd had a Wife with him last year and there wasn't cannibalistic murderer's everywhere.  
  
Kenneth settled down in his chair with a can of beer and clicked on the TV. It was going to be a long night. 


	2. Time to Go

Locks and Bolts  
  
Chapter 2-Time to go  
  
Ken went over to the window, and stared upon the slowly moving figures below. They covered the city now. They roamed in the alleyways, the Hotels, the Hospitals, the Parks, the Museums, and the Morgues (Unsurprisingly). Even The Police Station was eventually overrun. Kenneth saw that place getting fall hours ago.  
  
'What is there left to do now? There isn't any escape until the Cavalry arrive, and the chances of that happening anytime soon are pretty low.'  
  
He recalled that Police and SWAT had set up a barricade awhile ago and put up one hell of a stand. Of course, though, they fell to the horde of the monsters. The walking corpses, the flayed ones, the big insects.  
  
'Why don't you go out and say it? You know what these things are! It was obvious when you saw them gnawing on your neighbours leg! They're..."  
  
"Zombies."  
  
'Yup, that's what they are. The Living Dead, the Undead, Mutants, Walking Corpses, what ever the hell you wanna call them, they're already dead and they feast on the living just like in the films. And they come in large numbers. Just like in the films.'  
  
Kenneth closed his curtains and returned to the chair in front of the TV. Nothing good was on. Nothing was on at all. The growling static was all that remained of that wonder that mankind called Television. The aerial was probably down.  
  
'Damn TV killing undead sons of-'  
  
His thought was ended abruptly by a thud against the door. They were coming for him. Kenneth hand lowered by his belt, fingering his gun.  
  
'They're coming to get you, Barbara.'  
  
Night of the Living Dead played through his mind as he raised his handgun.  
  
'Remember to get 'em in the head.'  
  
Another bang thumped against the door followed by a raspy moan. Maybe the door would hold. Maybe-that is if there weren't too many of them. Then the door would hold.  
  
'And what if they do get in? And what if more flood in? How do you get out then? You could have gotten out long ago, when you were on the Ground Floor, but no. You returned to your apartment! Why? You know why, because you can't think of any where else safe. Even the Police Department was lost. Where would you go if you lost your Room as well?'  
  
Kenneth paused to think for a moment.  
  
'Anywhere. Anywhere there's none of those things.'  
  
Yet another thump as another fist banged against the door. The began to crack.  
  
'NO!'  
  
Ken ran to try and prop up the table. The banging continued as thump after thump smashed at the door. The table could bear little more. One last hammering blow smashed against the door before it gave way. The table fell to the ground in splintered pieces, the door falling behind it as a pile onto the floor. Kenneth stood gawping at the undead horrors as they slowly stumbled into the room. The first to enter revealed a broken jaw, swinging lightly on a torn, hanging tendon. The pistol raised, Kenneth took aim, and pressed upon the trigger.  
  
BOOM!  
  
The handgun blew a gnarly hole in the zombie's neck, blood oozing from the wound shortly after.  
  
BOOM!  
  
The second shot tore through the creature's forehead, blemishing the falling carcass in crimson fluids.  
  
Two more of the monsters bumbled through the blood stained doorway. The adrenaline filled Ken's veins. He raised the gun at the two new entrants. He grinned, with a tint of madness within his lips.  
  
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!  
  
The walls became blitzed with the brains of freshly re-dead.  
  
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! -Click–  
  
'No! NO GOD! NO!'  
  
The zombies went undaunted in their siege on the room, grasping for the flesh which Kenneth wore on his body. He picked up his axe. With a surge of rage and desperation, he charged, head first, into the approaching crowd, knocking several aside. He stumbled down the hall, the undead monstrosities in pursuit. He darted his view around the corridor, looking for some means of escape. The fire escape! Kenneth threw himself at the old iron fire escape, nearly toppling over the railings as he ran.  
  
'Up or down? Hurry up! Up leads to the roof. Not much there. Down leads to the streets, a possible escape but...but it leads to more of those things. Well, at least there's a possible escape.'  
  
He ran down the metallic steps of the fire escape, ever worried that the rickety old thing would collapse on him. The mob behind him continued to follow him. Pushing and shoving down the stairs after him, a few falling off the fire escape and landing contorted two floors down. Kenneth set his foot against the asphalt and picked up speed. He knew they'd be everywhere here. All he had to do was find a way out.  
  
'Find a car, hotwire it up if there's no key and get the hell outta Dodge!'  
  
Kenneth ran around the wooden fence flanking the Apartment building and saw a familiar site. A Squad Car was roaring down the street, frantically skidding from side to side as if it had lost control. He saw the car eventually pull over down the street. No sign of anyone moving in it. Maybe they had an unwanted passenger and he just felt a bit peckish. Maybe-  
  
'Do you give a damn!? Should you!? You just got yourself a car. All you have to do if kick whatever creatures in there out. Maybe there's ammo in there. After all, it's a Police Car. Just hack the sons of bitches up! Now- What the hell!?'  
  
A Truck, burning and fast coming Kenneth's way, was ploughing down the road. Kenneth turned to see several people dashing out of the car.  
  
'Shit! That things gasoline! RUN YOU IDIOT! RUN!'  
  
He put his feet down and belted forward down the street. He saw the two people dive away from the car as the truck was coming closer. Ken took a sharp left and turned into an alley just as the truck tore past him. A deafening explosion rumbled through the night aside a blinding flash that must have lit up half of the town. Kenneth dug his fingers at the wall in an effort to stay up. As the rumbling died down and the sound of crackling flames built, Kenneth stumbled down the alley and slipped through a basement window, seeking shelter. 


	3. Night on the Town

Locks and Bolts  
  
Chapter 3-Night on the town  
  
"Urgh..."  
  
Kenneth had cracked his head on a box when he'd taken a dive through the broken window frame. He didn't even know if that had been the smart thing to do. He didn't even know what was down here. He took out his lighter and clicked it open. In the faint light of the flame he could make out little. Just outlines of shaded objects. Kenneth walked around until he was sure he could feel wall and followed it around, looking for a light switch. Eventually, he felt the cheap plastic covering of what he was looking for. With his finger, he clicked the light on.  
  
Paintings lay on the floor of the room, several with torn canvasses amongst boxes of old 50s LPs. Kenneth would hope none were original pieces, but he couldn't care. If he wasn't careful, he'd end up having his face as torn up as the 'Mona Lisa' imitation that lay at his feet. Ken stepped around it and headed for the wooden door frame ahead of him.  
  
Another basement room, but this one was quite different. Several of the water pipes were exposed at the back of the room, broken and empty now. A projector sat on a wooden table, repeating some broken film or something. Either way, it was drenched in human blood, which covered the film as well, projecting the stale blood against the torn sheet hanging on the wall it faced. A corpse lay on the floor next to the projector, head long gone and stale blood surrounding the floor and the wound. An LP Player atop a small table was quite happily positioned in the corner of the room, monotonously playing some old, jaunty but rather irritating music.  
  
'Funny. Reminds me of a film.'  
  
Kenneth walked over to the door that he hoped would lead to the stairs up. It did. The old wooden stairs creaked from every step he took up, but they managed to stay standing. Ken walked through the door atop the stairs and into another room. A Kitchen. Some old broth stained the floor from overturned pots. Some random pieces of cutlery were sprawled across the floor. Another corpse sat on the floor. This one, too, was headless, a protruding snapped stump of bone glistening with blood hung from the broken neck. This one, however, was slightly different. There were several sharp puncture marks on the arms, and the stomach has been ravaged, with bits of kidney all of over the place. Pretty messy, then.  
  
'God! Looks like this guy's dog went postal on his torso. Shit, maybe it did!'  
  
Kenneth jumped, rather startled, as the door ahead of him creaked slowly back and forth.  
  
'Why are you even scared!? You know it's just the window and it's nothing more. Just the wind. Just the goddamned wind.'  
  
It continued to creak, slowly but eerily. Kenneth stepped over to it and pushed the door close.  
  
'There! That's enough of that.'  
  
Satisfied, he sat down at the kitchen table, just trying to get to grips with what had just happened. He needn't get to grips with the zombies, he had already gotten to grips with them when they'd tried to grip at his flesh. He pondered for awhile, wondering if the people who'd escaped the burning wreckage were still alive and, if so, where'd they be going.  
  
'The Police Station. That was the direction they were heading in. They must think that the cops were able to turn the placer into a Bunker. Bah! It's more of an Arts & Crafts Museum then a Police Station! Still, maybe they think someone's still alive there. Hell, maybe there is. But how do I get there if I don't even know where I am?'  
  
He took to his feet and opened the door. Just a living room. Just a dead living room. Bits of furniture and junk were piled against the door and some more trying to bar a window. Kenneth pulled back some of the garbage and looked through the window and saw something that made his eyes light up with joy.  
  
The Kendo Gun shop.  
  
Behind the huge glass window Kenneth could see only a few remaining weapons behind bars in cases, but Kendo probably had the key and, from the lack of damage to the store, it looked promising that he'd be alive.  
  
Kenneth hit the Living Room window with the blunt end of the axe, being careful to push out as many shards as he could. As Kenneth prepared to pull himself out of the Window, he was sure he heard the scuffle of claws and a low growl behind him. He turned to see what was behind him, axe raised and ready. He was relatively sure what to expect. 


End file.
